Vietnam to issue electronic passports

The national project to produce and issue Vietnamese electronic passports will be implemented from 2011 by the Ministry of Public Security.
The Office of the Government has issued a document delivering the Prime Minister’s conclusion on the project. Earlier, on February 24, the Government convened to hear about the important project.
According to the conclusion, there will be only one centre at the Ministry of Public Security in charge of issuing locks and national numeric signatures.
The electronic passports are said to prevent false information.
There is an increasingly high demand for passports from Vietnamese citizens as the procedures to issue passports have become more and more simple.
According to the draft national program on applying information and technology in state-owned agencies in the 2011-2015 period, by 2015, 100% of Vietnamese citizens’ are expected to be issued passports through electronic channels.
So far 45 countries across the world use electronic passports.

Source: Compiled by BTA